Lögberg-Heimskringla - 10.03.2006, Side 10

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David Jón Fuller
Sylvia Gislason started The Craft Post in her
house in 1989 with a few items in stock, and of-
fered craft classes which she taught. Now her
store takes up 5200 square feet, encompassing
a range of gifts and decorations, an art gallery,
a custom framing centre, quilting supplies, and
woodcraft projects, as well as a teaching area
for her various classes. Currently she offers tole
painting, scrapbooking and quilting.
Originally from Vidir, MB, Sylvia is the
daughter of Phyllis and Kristjan Sigvaldason, the
second youngest of seven children.
She says the market for original art is de-
creasing, but is proud to stock a variety of prints,
paintings and sculpture, including work by Leslie
A. Sinclair, Fred Lemke and Michael Lonechild.
The artists come from Arborg, Arnes, Selkirk,
Churchill, Winnipeg, and Fisher Branch, among
other places, but she says “I try to have not just
what’s local, but what’s really good.” She sells
more prints and so-called “deco art,” as the origi-
nal art is often out of people’s price range, but she
likes to include a variety.
David Jón Fuller
They were friends before going into business to-gether, and Interlake
Realty’s Ellen Wyka and Lil-
lian Skulason say the Arborg
housing market is steady and
strong.
Both grew up hearing Ice-
landic. Ellen was raised pri-
marily by her mother Guðlaug
Einarsson and grandmother
Elin Einarsson. Her grandfather
Gudmundur Einarsson’s poet-
ry (as well that of Sigursteinn
Einarsson) was collected in the
book Braga Blys frá Öxará.
Ellen says of her mother
and amma, “They spoke Ice-
landic in the home, when I was
young. Most of the time it was
so I couldn’t understand. But it
doesn’t take long, when you’re
young, for you to become fl u-
ent.” Her mother Guðlaug,
who turned 90 last year, went
to Iceland with her brother
Harold for the fi rst time when
she was 85. Guðlaug, or “Lau-
ga,” bruised her leg climbing a
mountain. “That’s unbelieve-
able,” marvels Ellen. “There’s
some good genes there, the
whole family, the Einarssons,
have been long-lived.” Ellen
has not been to Iceland herself
but says, “Maybe Lillian and I
will take a trip, if real estate is
good, someday.”
Lillian Skulason’s fi rst lan-
guage was Icelandic. Her par-
ents were Kristjon and Marin
(Gislason) Gudmundson. Her
great-grandparents came from
North Dakota, around Gardar
and Mountain, she says. She
grew up just north of Arborg,
but when she married she
moved to Geysir.
She says when she fi rst went
to school in Arborg in 1945, it
was deemed very important to
be “English.” She says, “I was
really ashamed of my Icelandic
name, which is Sigurbjorg — I
really didn’t want anyone to
know that.” She adds that that
has changed, and she is thank-
ful her mother gave her an Ice-
landic name.
She currently takes part in
Icelandic classes with Rosalind
Vigfusson, and adds that her
mother taught her to read and
write Icelandic as a youngster,
which is now helping her get
the language back. “I have read
a few Icelandic novels,” she
says, “but basically I read Ice-
landic at an elementary school
level. I can get the gist of it
but I have to have a diction-
ary beside me for the diffi cult
words.”
Lillian began working in
real estate in 1983 as a broker
in Selkirk, MB. Ellen began in
1988, and worked for Royal
LePage in Winnipeg. Lillian
joined Interlake Realty of Gim-
li and opened an offi ce in Ar-
borg in 1995, and she and Ellen
joined forces in 2003 with their
independently owned offi ce.
They are still affi liated with
the Interlake Realty offi ce in
Gimli.
They both say the market
in Arborg is diverse. “There’s
a little bit of everything,” says
Lillian. “There are younger
families moving in, and there
are certainly people from the
surrounding area, newly retired
farmers and people who have
lived in the Interlake before,
who have families here and
retire back in Arborg. We are
impacted by the manufacturing
sector up in Okno, of course,
there are people who work there
who are moving into Arborg.”
She adds that the housing
market has always been strong
in the town and that the vacan-
cy rate for commercial space is
very low — most of the build-
ings in the area are being used.
“It’s always been steady, and
in the last few years the prices
have increased.” Houses in Ar-
borg which went for $85,000
to $100,000 in 1995 now sell
for between $125,000 and
$150,000.
Ellen says the town sees
a swell in people visiting
the town during the summer
months. “And when people see
the prices of houses in Gimli,
they take a look at somewhere
else that’s more affordable.”
10 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Friday 10 March 2006
The Craft Post
keeps on growing
Housing market strong in Arborg
PHOTO: DAVID JÓN FULLER
Friends and business partners: Lillian Skulason (left) and El-
len Wyka independently operate Interlake Realty in Arborg.
PHOTO: DAVID JÓN FULLER
Sylvia Gislason (right) with full-time employ-
ee and fi rst cousin Mavis Weik (nee Stefanson)
in the Craft Post’s quilting centre.
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